| Credit Card Debt? Think Twice Before Jumping on the Debt ...
Sounds great! Where should you sign up?! Not so fast, advises Jim Young, the CEO of Accelerated Debt Consolidation. According to Jim, debt settlement, or debt negotiation as it is sometimes called, is never a good option for cardholders who are current on their accounts and want to maintain their good credit.“The only time that a settlement makes sense for a consumer is when they need an account settled in order to obtain a new line of credit. For example, if a consumer that had good credit was attempting to obtain a mortgage but they had an old charged off account on their credit report, settling the charged off account could be what the new lender needed before approving the mortgage." What They Don't SayOne of the many things those enticing ads don't point out is that debt settlement can only occur after the accounts are charged off.
Home Equity Loan-reverse Mortgage-is There One In Your Future
Reverse mortgages have gotten a lot of publicity lately and will probably get a lot of press in the future as baby boomers near retirement age. What are they? Who can use one? Is there a reverse mortgage in your future? WHAT ARE REVERSE MORTGAGES A reverse mortgage is a home equity loan or line of credit that is secured by the equity in your home. You do not repay as long as you live in the home. The reason it is called a reverse mortgage is because it is the opposite of a regular home equity loan where you reduce debt and build up equity. In a reverse mortgage you reduce equity and build up debt. That is where the money comes from. WHO CAN USE REVERSE MORTGAGES Basically anyone who is over age 62, owns and lives in their own home and has paid off at least 60% of the loan can apply for a reverse mortgage.
Jack Naudi
I was all set to provide a glowing update to last year's column, one of the few in which I wrote about a specific product. Now, I'd say I've become more skeptical. A year ago, I wrote of the program: "It provides you with more money to invest in stocks and bonds." Well, that might be true in some cases. But in the vast majority of regular mortgages, it's not. Indeed, it's just the opposite. The program works as advertised only if you put more money into your home than into other investments.
But the Home Accelerator is dramatically different from a regular mortgage. In simplest terms, it's a lot like a home equity line of credit, but with a bit of a kick.
Under the program, your home equity line also is a bank account. You deposit checks into it, just as you would into a regular checking account.
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